Section 11: Who are you and where do you come from?
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Daniel was flustered as he retrieved the bag he had stuffed the clothes in. It didn't help that the woman, Aeryn Sun, glared at him the whole time, just daring him or anyone to look at her the wrong way. A little embarrassed himself to be still standing there staring at the two naked people they had just rescued - or been rescued by - Jack turned his back and said, "We'll just give you some privacy." He glanced over at Teal'c who looked back with a small smile Jack couldn't help but mirror. Sneak peaks at gorgeous women just couldn't be left unappreciated, no matter how wrong it was. And it was funny to see Danny all worked up. Carter just rolled her eyes at them.
"So, Chiana, what's going on?" he heard John ask behind them. The girl apparently felt no need to turn her back, and surprisingly, Crichton and Sun didn't complain. She spent the next five minutes explaining to her friends in her own language.
"Humans, huh?" said Crichton when she finished. "You can turn around now."
The first though that jumped into Jack's head upon seeing them dressed was that they had to be hot in all that leather. The second was that he was dealing with two dangerous people. But that was probably a reaction to the all-black Matrix ensembles that screamed 'I know how to hurt you' to anything with eyes.
"Uh, yes. We're humans from Earth," Daniel answered. "Though from what Rygel and D'argo have told us, not your Earth."
"We think this is an alternate reality to ours," continued Carter. "I think the planet we landed on is an alternate version of the one in our reality. When we came through the wormhole we must have passed through either a radiation field in subspace or encountered - "
"Carter, English," Jack pleaded. He was getting a headache.
"Sir, this is a boiled down as I can make it."
"It's alright, Joe - "
"Jack."
"Right," Crichton accepted the correction. He moved toward the wall and sat down between Aeryn and Chiana. SG-1 followed suit. "Back up a sec. How did you get on a planet if you came through a wormhole?"
"We came through the stargate," Carter replied, as surprised as Jack was at the question. Both Crichton and Sun looked at Chiana who just shrugged nonchalantly.
"I didn't understand this part," she told them.
"The stargate is a device that creates a stable wormhole between planets. You enter in a gate address to another stargate and then you can just walk from one world to another. We explained it to D'argo and Rygel," Carter said patiently.
"We didn't understand it either," D'argo called from the pilot's seat. For some reason that made Jack feel better. Looked like Carter had her work cut out for her here to convince these people about alternate realities and explain gate technology. Only problem was you needed her kind of PhD to understand most of it, and Jack for one didn't want to suffer through the lecture.
"Just accept it okay?" he told them. They stared at him like he was crazy.
"Accept that a wormhole can come into contact with a planet and the planet still be there afterwards?" demanded Sun skeptically.
"Yeah," said Daniel, slightly confused, wondering like Jack, what she meant.
"So you're saying that you have this thing that . . . controls wormholes?" asked Crichton.
"Well, it's not like we carry it around in our pocket," said Jack.
"But yes," Carter finished.
"Blue, swirly thing. Takes you to other places too far to go by ship," Crichotn went on, still clearly not believing them.
"Yes," Jack hissed. This was getting old. "Stargate. Big circle of stone that looks like a big puddle of water standing the wrong way up."
"Must be that then," said Crichton totally confusing Jack now. The guy had a weird look in his eye that seemed to be looking through them.
"What are you referring to?" asked Teal'c.
"Your stargate," Crichton answered. "It keeps the wormhole from swallowing the planet. How big is it?"
"About six meters in diameter," said Carter. He seemed surprised by that.
"Wow, small."
"How big are yours?" Jack demanded, insulted at the slight.
"Much bigger," Crichton smiled. "But she's right about the alternate reality thing," he gestured toward Carter. "Except it wasn't a radiation field or a quantum scattering in subspace or solar flares that got you here."
"Oh?" Jack raised his eyebrows, partly in surprise that he spoke Carter, partly because of the way he dismissed the second part of her theory. She was usually right about this sort of thing.
"You just came out at the wrong place."
Now that sounded entirely too simple to Jack. In fact it was something he could have come up with and saved the trouble of the whole discussion. Jack slapped his hand to his forehead in the classic light bulb switching on gesture. "That's it! We came out at the wrong place! Mystery solved, Carter."
His second in command shot him a withering look before asking, "What do you mean, wrong place? We dialed a specific address that should have sent us to P5V-344. Any deviation would mean interference from an outside source."
"So your stargate works like a phone?" Crichton asked. Carter nodded in reply and explained dialing planets again based on their coordinates in space. Crichton looked like he was actually listening now. "And you just walk through?" he asked when she finished.
"Our bodies are molecularized and reconstituted at the other end of the wormhole," said Carter.
"Pretty powerful phone you got there," said Crichton seriously. He looked pensive, and Jack did not take that as a good sign.
"You still haven't explained this wrong place thing," he said suggestively.
"Well I don't know much about your wormhole tamer, but wild wormholes out here connect billions of places and times." Looking at Jack he clarified. "Think of one like a big circular highway with lots of exits. Each exit leads to a different place in space-time. Exits that are close together are similar, varying in time and by different decisions that are made at specific points in time so you get your alternate realities - unrealized realities from the one we're in right now. It's hard to explain," Crichton shrugged and looked away. "Since you're not from my Earth, you're probably from one of those. It's kinda creepy actually."
"Alright," said Carter. Jack could see her analyzing the new information and tying it into what she already understood about wormholes. "So our gate network is just one set of possibilities in a single wormhole network tied together by the same temporal indicator?"
Crichton nodded. "That'd be my guess. The gates must let you navigate safely around unrealized realities and keep your time straight."
"How do you navigate, John Crichton?" asked Teal'c.
"Very carefully," he answered with a token smile. "It's hard to explain."
"We're almost therer," D'argo called from the cockpit. The sudden turbulence or entering the atmosphere where Moya was parked, forestalled any further discussion. Soon, they were flying through the open door in the ship's hull and landing. D'argo talked to his ship to get it open and the six of them disembarked. Rygel, Nori, and Stark were there to greet them.
"Sparky, my man!" Crichton shouted, snatching up Rygel and swinging him around amid the slug's profane protests. But Jack noticed that he didn't even try to escape in his flying chair. Meanwhile the old woman greeted both Chiana and Sun warmly, puttering about with her pouches for Chiana who was coming off her adrenaline and other painkillers. Stark hesitantly approached them, and Sun turned and spoke directly to him. He smiled and took the hand she offered.
"They are a very close group," Teal'c observed as they followed D'argo over.
"Ahh. The humans!" Nori smiled at them. "Did you have fun?" Her third eye blinked blue, and Jack couldn't help but smile at the crazy woman.
"We ended up being the ones who needed rescuing, but yeah," he told her.
"But you are still here and unhurt," Nori smiled, beckoning them closer.
"Fun?" Daniel asked quietly so only his teammates could hear.
"Well, you know," Jack gestured vaguely. Daniel only gave him a wry smile.
"So what now?" Carter asked D'argo as Crichton put Rygel down. The tall alien was watching Chiana. He shrugged.
"Chiana needs to rest," he said, moving to help her.
"So do we," said Crichton. "Didn't sleep last night."
"And then there was the escaping," Sun added.
"So we'll hit the sack till dinner," Crichton finished, taking her hand.
"Rygel can take you to your quarters," said D'argo over his shoulder as he left with Chiana once more in his arms.
"What?" squawked the little slug. Jack smiled as they began to argue over who should do what while he, Carter, Daniel, and Teal'c followed them into the golden ship.
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Daniel was flustered as he retrieved the bag he had stuffed the clothes in. It didn't help that the woman, Aeryn Sun, glared at him the whole time, just daring him or anyone to look at her the wrong way. A little embarrassed himself to be still standing there staring at the two naked people they had just rescued - or been rescued by - Jack turned his back and said, "We'll just give you some privacy." He glanced over at Teal'c who looked back with a small smile Jack couldn't help but mirror. Sneak peaks at gorgeous women just couldn't be left unappreciated, no matter how wrong it was. And it was funny to see Danny all worked up. Carter just rolled her eyes at them.
"So, Chiana, what's going on?" he heard John ask behind them. The girl apparently felt no need to turn her back, and surprisingly, Crichton and Sun didn't complain. She spent the next five minutes explaining to her friends in her own language.
"Humans, huh?" said Crichton when she finished. "You can turn around now."
The first though that jumped into Jack's head upon seeing them dressed was that they had to be hot in all that leather. The second was that he was dealing with two dangerous people. But that was probably a reaction to the all-black Matrix ensembles that screamed 'I know how to hurt you' to anything with eyes.
"Uh, yes. We're humans from Earth," Daniel answered. "Though from what Rygel and D'argo have told us, not your Earth."
"We think this is an alternate reality to ours," continued Carter. "I think the planet we landed on is an alternate version of the one in our reality. When we came through the wormhole we must have passed through either a radiation field in subspace or encountered - "
"Carter, English," Jack pleaded. He was getting a headache.
"Sir, this is a boiled down as I can make it."
"It's alright, Joe - "
"Jack."
"Right," Crichton accepted the correction. He moved toward the wall and sat down between Aeryn and Chiana. SG-1 followed suit. "Back up a sec. How did you get on a planet if you came through a wormhole?"
"We came through the stargate," Carter replied, as surprised as Jack was at the question. Both Crichton and Sun looked at Chiana who just shrugged nonchalantly.
"I didn't understand this part," she told them.
"The stargate is a device that creates a stable wormhole between planets. You enter in a gate address to another stargate and then you can just walk from one world to another. We explained it to D'argo and Rygel," Carter said patiently.
"We didn't understand it either," D'argo called from the pilot's seat. For some reason that made Jack feel better. Looked like Carter had her work cut out for her here to convince these people about alternate realities and explain gate technology. Only problem was you needed her kind of PhD to understand most of it, and Jack for one didn't want to suffer through the lecture.
"Just accept it okay?" he told them. They stared at him like he was crazy.
"Accept that a wormhole can come into contact with a planet and the planet still be there afterwards?" demanded Sun skeptically.
"Yeah," said Daniel, slightly confused, wondering like Jack, what she meant.
"So you're saying that you have this thing that . . . controls wormholes?" asked Crichton.
"Well, it's not like we carry it around in our pocket," said Jack.
"But yes," Carter finished.
"Blue, swirly thing. Takes you to other places too far to go by ship," Crichotn went on, still clearly not believing them.
"Yes," Jack hissed. This was getting old. "Stargate. Big circle of stone that looks like a big puddle of water standing the wrong way up."
"Must be that then," said Crichton totally confusing Jack now. The guy had a weird look in his eye that seemed to be looking through them.
"What are you referring to?" asked Teal'c.
"Your stargate," Crichton answered. "It keeps the wormhole from swallowing the planet. How big is it?"
"About six meters in diameter," said Carter. He seemed surprised by that.
"Wow, small."
"How big are yours?" Jack demanded, insulted at the slight.
"Much bigger," Crichton smiled. "But she's right about the alternate reality thing," he gestured toward Carter. "Except it wasn't a radiation field or a quantum scattering in subspace or solar flares that got you here."
"Oh?" Jack raised his eyebrows, partly in surprise that he spoke Carter, partly because of the way he dismissed the second part of her theory. She was usually right about this sort of thing.
"You just came out at the wrong place."
Now that sounded entirely too simple to Jack. In fact it was something he could have come up with and saved the trouble of the whole discussion. Jack slapped his hand to his forehead in the classic light bulb switching on gesture. "That's it! We came out at the wrong place! Mystery solved, Carter."
His second in command shot him a withering look before asking, "What do you mean, wrong place? We dialed a specific address that should have sent us to P5V-344. Any deviation would mean interference from an outside source."
"So your stargate works like a phone?" Crichton asked. Carter nodded in reply and explained dialing planets again based on their coordinates in space. Crichton looked like he was actually listening now. "And you just walk through?" he asked when she finished.
"Our bodies are molecularized and reconstituted at the other end of the wormhole," said Carter.
"Pretty powerful phone you got there," said Crichton seriously. He looked pensive, and Jack did not take that as a good sign.
"You still haven't explained this wrong place thing," he said suggestively.
"Well I don't know much about your wormhole tamer, but wild wormholes out here connect billions of places and times." Looking at Jack he clarified. "Think of one like a big circular highway with lots of exits. Each exit leads to a different place in space-time. Exits that are close together are similar, varying in time and by different decisions that are made at specific points in time so you get your alternate realities - unrealized realities from the one we're in right now. It's hard to explain," Crichton shrugged and looked away. "Since you're not from my Earth, you're probably from one of those. It's kinda creepy actually."
"Alright," said Carter. Jack could see her analyzing the new information and tying it into what she already understood about wormholes. "So our gate network is just one set of possibilities in a single wormhole network tied together by the same temporal indicator?"
Crichton nodded. "That'd be my guess. The gates must let you navigate safely around unrealized realities and keep your time straight."
"How do you navigate, John Crichton?" asked Teal'c.
"Very carefully," he answered with a token smile. "It's hard to explain."
"We're almost therer," D'argo called from the cockpit. The sudden turbulence or entering the atmosphere where Moya was parked, forestalled any further discussion. Soon, they were flying through the open door in the ship's hull and landing. D'argo talked to his ship to get it open and the six of them disembarked. Rygel, Nori, and Stark were there to greet them.
"Sparky, my man!" Crichton shouted, snatching up Rygel and swinging him around amid the slug's profane protests. But Jack noticed that he didn't even try to escape in his flying chair. Meanwhile the old woman greeted both Chiana and Sun warmly, puttering about with her pouches for Chiana who was coming off her adrenaline and other painkillers. Stark hesitantly approached them, and Sun turned and spoke directly to him. He smiled and took the hand she offered.
"They are a very close group," Teal'c observed as they followed D'argo over.
"Ahh. The humans!" Nori smiled at them. "Did you have fun?" Her third eye blinked blue, and Jack couldn't help but smile at the crazy woman.
"We ended up being the ones who needed rescuing, but yeah," he told her.
"But you are still here and unhurt," Nori smiled, beckoning them closer.
"Fun?" Daniel asked quietly so only his teammates could hear.
"Well, you know," Jack gestured vaguely. Daniel only gave him a wry smile.
"So what now?" Carter asked D'argo as Crichton put Rygel down. The tall alien was watching Chiana. He shrugged.
"Chiana needs to rest," he said, moving to help her.
"So do we," said Crichton. "Didn't sleep last night."
"And then there was the escaping," Sun added.
"So we'll hit the sack till dinner," Crichton finished, taking her hand.
"Rygel can take you to your quarters," said D'argo over his shoulder as he left with Chiana once more in his arms.
"What?" squawked the little slug. Jack smiled as they began to argue over who should do what while he, Carter, Daniel, and Teal'c followed them into the golden ship.
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